O zawężeniu wyższego gustu estetycznego. Analiza zjawiska wszystkożerności kulturowej w Polsce

Applying the method used by Richard A. Peterson and Roger M. Kern in a classic article, Changing Highbrow Taste: From Snob to Omnivore, the authors made an analysis of the phenomenon of „cultural omnivorousness” in the Polish cultural context. ”Omnivorousness” is a state in which individuals rich in cultural capital do not limit theirs aesthetic tastes to legitimate forms of culture (highbrow), but open to new, “lower”, forms (middlebrow, lowbrow). The analysis described in the article was focused on musical taste of respondents. Using data collected by the Central Statistical Office in the course of research, „Participation of People in Culture” in the years 2004 and 2009 authors used statistical procedures for data analysis, which allowed presenting the conclusions about the omnivorousness in Poland. Based on the collected data the authors state that a phenomenon opposite to omnivorousness takes place: the narrowing of the aesthetic taste. Following Peterson and Kern, the analytical results were supplemented by a theoretical attempt to explain the observed patterns.